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Absolutism in Religion and Global Peace: Boko-Haram Factor in Nigeria and Its Educational Imperatives

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Absolutism in Religion and Global Peace: Boko-Haram Factor in Nigeria and Its Educational Imperatives http://wje.sciedupress.com World Journal of Education Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 Absolutism in Religion and Global Peace: Boko-Haram Factor in Nigeria and Its Educational Imperatives Muhammad Mann Shaaba1,* 1Department Of Educational, Foundation and Management, Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State, Nigeria *Correspondence: Department Of Educational, Foundation and Management, Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State, Nigeria. Tel: 234-803-831-3559. E-mail: [email protected] Received: January 11, 2017 Accepted: February 11, 2017 Online Published: April 10, 2017 doi:10.5430/wje.v7n2p11 URL: https://doi.org/10.5430/wje.v7n2p11 Abstract Nigeria, hitherto regarded as a relatively peaceful country at least in terms of terrorism, became a globally notable country with high incidence of religious violence and outright terrorism. This paper discussed Boko-haram as the Nigerian terrorist group that started from a small local group in Borno State of the country and grew into an international terrorist body that was found to be among the deadliest in the world. The group’s exclusively claim to absolute truth about Islam made it to strongly believe in its ideas. It also motivated the members to sacrifice their lives for violent propagation of Islam and hatred for western education. In order to prevent future terrorism, education was not only seen as imperative, but as the most enduring solution. Such education, according to the paper should involve classroom teaching that is organized on the basis of Harmony Education which emphasize the principles of understanding and appreciating whatever is presented to a learner before accepting or rejecting it rationally in a way that tolerates people with different views. Keywords: Absolutism; Boko-Haram; global peace; classroom teaching 1. Introduction Continuous religious conflicts in Nigeria have given many Nigerians and indeed the entire world great cause for concern in recent years. Many people wonder why “religion which used to be the cohesive factor and core of national unity, peaceful co-existence and national development has become a tool for violence, destruction of lives and property in Nigeria” (Ushe, 2015. P. 117). How did religious practice terminate the sense of tolerance, open mindedness, love and empathy of some Nigerians that became terrorists? Is there anything inherent in religion that made some Nigerians to say goodbye to the days when Nigerians were regarded as people who are not heartless enough to do suicide bombing? Could absolutism in religion be part of the causative factors that changed some Nigerians to develop a Nigerian made terrorist group called Boko Haram? This paper is interested in answering the questions above and related ones including how absolutism in religion has jeopardized global peace. From the educational perspectives, the paper will also discuss the anti western education philosophy of Boko-Haram with the aim of further understanding the thinking of the terrorists and the philosophy guiding their activities. An understanding of the terrorist’s philosophy is predicated on the assertion that “until we understand a man’s ignorance, we are ignorant of his understanding” (Coleridge in Oyeshile, 2008 p. 215). Such understanding can further enable Nigerians and indeed, the entire world to plan, how to educate young and adult learners in the classroom with the view of enhancing peaceful coexistence and preventing future recruitment of school leavers into terrorists folds 2. Methodology The method of intellectual discourse in philosophy of education was used in this paper. According to Bamisaiye (2012), intellectual discourse means the selection of an idea/issues for a critical examination with the aim of taking a position on logical grounds. It is important to state that intellectual discourse is a method in philosophical of Published by Sciedu Press 11 ISSN 1925-0746 E-ISSN 1925-0754 http://wje.sciedupress.com World Journal of Education Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 education has its own peculiarities which include the fact that it is book-based (Bamisaye, 2012); it does not see any interested subjects, so there is no empirical findings (results) (Enoh, 2017). Also, it does not limit literature review to a single chapter. Rather, literature review is spread throughout the research ultimately ensure critical interpretation, deep understanding, rigorous criticism and open minded evaluation of ideas, issues and concepts so as to put them in context. (Enoh, 2012, Onwuka, 2012 Babarinde, 2012 Adesanya 2012 and Akinpelu, 2012). Accordingly, Absolutism in religion and Boko Haram as a terrorist group in Nigeria were critically examined in relation to global peace and how education can be used to prevent terrorism. 3. Emergence of Boko-Haram as a Terrorist Group Given the fact that Boko-Haram as a terrorist group is very central to the paper, there is a strong need to give a historical overview of how the body emerged before going to any theoretical exposition. The real origin of the body can be traced back to 1995 when a Muslim Youth organization called Shabaab under the leadership of Abubakar Lawan was formed in Maiduguri. (Muhammad 2015). The ultimate aim of the body was to encourage Muslims starting with the youths to live what they believe is the puritan Islamic life. The command later shifted to Yusuf Mohammed when Lawan departed for studies in Saudi Arabia. After the take over, Yusuf and his students in 2002 established their own movement known as “Jama’at Ahl Us-Sunnah Li’d Da’Wah Mal’Jihad” (the group of people of Sunnah for preaching and jihad) (Oduyela, 2014). Yusuf indoctrinated the sect with his own teaching which he claimed were based on purity. Yusuf perception of “purity” and teaching were inspired by the works of Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th century Islamic scholar who preached Islamic fundamentalism and is regarded as a chief philosopher of radicalism in the Middle East. (Johnson, 2012). At the beginning, the sect recruited its members from school drop-outs and unemployed university and polytechnic graduates, most of whom tore up their certificates because they saw them as worthless worldly papers. Students, male and female withdrew from school to join the group. Yusuf “made his members to believe that their state of despair was caused by government which imposed western education on them and failed to manage the resources of the country to their benefits”. (Oduyela, 2014 p.3). This assertion, according to the jihad group makes western education “prohibitive and sinful (Haram) in Arabic. The radical preaching of Yusuf continued to cause increasing concern in government circles until 2009 when major violence erupted between the jihadists and the government that resulted into the death of Muhammed Yusuf. A new leader for the group emerged in the person of Abubakar Shekau who turned out to be ruthless and vicious with human life. Shekau described himself as a person who enjoys killing any one that God command him to kill because human life to him is like lives of chicken and rams (BBC in Alozienwa, 2012). Thousands of lives from Nigeria and beyond were lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed including the United Nations House in Abuja which Shekau described as a forum of all the global evils (Thisday, September 19, 2015). A major terrorist activity of book-haram was the kidnap of over 200 secondary school girls from Chibok, Borno State in April, 2014. Boko-Haram started from a small local group in Borno State of Nigeria and metamorphosed into an international terrorist organization that has jeopardized global peace. 3. Theoretical Considerations In order to understand Boko-Haram terrorist group properly, there is need to do a theoretical explanation of the idea of absolutism which is a major working concept of terrorism. 3.1 Absolutism, a Seed for Terrorism The term absolutism has both a moral and political connotation (New World Encyclopedia, 2016). In morality, absolutism refers, at least to two distinct doctrines. In the first place, it may refer to the claim that there exists a universally valid moral system, which applies to everyone whether they realize it or not. In the second place, absolutism may also refer to the claim that moral rules or principles do not admit any exceptions. In politics, absolutism refers to a type of government in which the leaders power is not subject to any legal constraint. In contrast, the relativists contend that it is possible to have moral principles accepted by everybody but certainly not applicable to those who do not accept them. For example, globalization has made western culture widespread across continents, but not widely applicable to people who did not endorse it. In other words “the relativist would argue that a moral code could be universally accepted, without being universally valid, and hence fail to be absolute”. (New Encyclopedia in www.newworldencyclopedia). Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) provided a penetrating and influential philosophical justification for absolutism Published by Sciedu Press 12 ISSN 1925-0746 E-ISSN 1925-0754 http://wje.sciedupress.com World Journal of Education Vol. 7, No. 2; 2017 (http:history-world.org/absolutism). The French religious wars and English civil war of the 1640s inclined Hobbes to view order as the primary social good, while anarchy is the greatest social disaster. According to Hobbes, people created governments as protection against themselves because they were naturally “brutish” “nasty” “selfish” and cruel. Having been forced by human nature to surrender their freedoms to the state, people no longer have any right remaining under the government expect obedience and absolute obedience for that matter. From a Godly perspective, Bishop Jacque Bossuet (1627-1704) a prominent French church man provided another philosophical justification for absolutism (http:history.world.org/absolutism). According to him, the person of the king is sacred and to attack him in any way, is therefore sacrilege; the royal throne is the throne of God not of a man; the royal power is so absolute that the king does not need to render accounts of his action to any one.
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